Irs Snafus Causing Deluge Of Calls To Area Legislators

April 12, 1985|by SUSAN MILLIGAN, States News Service

As the Philadelphia office of the Internal Revenue Service deals with processing delays and charges that some tax returns have been destroyed by frustrated employees, area congressional offices are also feeling the heat.

Many taxpayers, angry because they haven't received their refund checks or nervous that their returns were shredded, have taken their complaints to their local congressmen, some of whom are having nearly as much trouble getting IRS action as their constituents.

A spokesman for Sen. John Heinz, R-Pa., who has taken on the issue, said that since the Philadelphia office problems have been reported, about 70 percent of the staff's workload has been IRS cases.

But even representatives who have taken no particular action on the IRS snafu have been deluged with complaints.

The district office of Rep. Don Ritter, R-15th, "has been inundated with calls," said Ritter aide Ralph Wunder.

Complaints about late refund checks and concerns about shredded returns are pouring into the office at a rate of about one call out of three, he said.

Some constituents have complained thatwhen they finally got through to an IRS employee, they were given a new number to call which turned out to be the number of the Philadelphia Historical Society.

A staffer for Rep. Peter Kostmayer, D-8th, said the Langhorne office alone was receiving 15-20 calls a day on the issue. Kostmayer has three local offices.

"People whose checks are late are saying, 'does that mean my check is shredded?' " said the staffer, Judy Brauston. Because of the delays, she said, "We are now telling people to wait 16 weeks before asking questions" about the status of their returns.

The Philadelphia office has processed 47 percent of returns received, compared to 76 percent at this time last year. The Pennsylvania office processing record is the lowest in the country. Nationwide, about 61 percent of returns were processed as of April 5.

The IRS has denied reports of tax return shredding and blames the delay in processing to a new computer system.

Kostmayer, who visited the Philadelphia center last fall, said a staff shortage might be responsible for the problems.

"I received a substantial number of complaints from employees that (because of) administration cutbacks, they were not able to do the job they wanted to do," Kostmayer said.

The employees told their supervisors of the personnel problem, Kostmayer said, but management was unsympathetic and more intent on meeting IRS-mandated processing quotas.

Kostmayer said the agency needs more funding for staff supplements.

Ritter was less sympathetic to the agency.

"When you're handling money that belongs to the people, it's a responsibility that cannot be taken lightly," Ritter said in a statement. "And news of destroyed tax returns causes me real problems.

"Sometimes government workers forget in this country it's the voting,tax-paying America who is sovereign. So I think a close look needs to be taken at the situation to ensure we're getting the services our tax dollars are entitled to."